The death of a 76-year-old Irishman has been ruled a case of spontaneous combustion, the BBC reported.
Michael Faherty died in his home in December 2010. His body was badly burned, but a fire in the nearby fireplace did not cause the blaze, forensic experts said. Scorch marks on the ceiling above the body and the floor below, and no trace of accelerant, led the coroner to return the controversial verdict, the first of its kind in Ireland, according to the BBC.
“This fire was thoroughly investigated and I’m left with the conclusion that this fits into the category of spontaneous human combustion, for which there is no adequate explanation,” West Galway coroner Dr. Ciaran McLoughlin told a court Thursday.
May he rest in peace. I just hope it never happens to Máire Byrne, my favorite Ireland-er.
Hot embers never “pop” out of a fireplace?